1. Field of Invention
The present invention relates to a wastebasket or trash basket, in particular to a basket for holding plastic grocery bags.
2. Description of Prior Art
In the past, trash baskets were provided as a simple container or basket, usually rectangular in shape. Such baskets were placed in kitchens and elsewhere; usually, a paper grocery bag was placed in the basket for receiving waste for disposal.
Later, commercial plastic bags were introduced for sale, with tops that fitted snugly over the rims of the baskets, to hold the bags open. Because these plastic bags were costly, many householders still preferred to use the free paper grocery bags.
Recently, however, many stores have replaced free paper bags with free plastic bags with handles for carrying. This change has caused problems for customers.
Unlike paper bags, plastic bags are insufficiently rigid to stand upright within trash baskets. Also, there is no way in which the handles of a plastic bag can be supported so as to hold the bag open in an upright position.
A number of metal and plastic "frame" type supports have come on the market but are not popular. These frame supports tend to be awkward and unstable, tending to hold poorly and to collapse and fall apart while in use.
Attachments have been invented to hold the plastic grocery bags onto trash baskets (e.g., U.S. Pat. No. 4,535,911 granted Aug. 20, 1985 to copatentee V. H. Goulter, and our copending application Ser. No. 724,910, filed 1985-4-19). However, these inventions do not have optimum simplicity, reliability, economy, etc.